Tuesday, April 7, 2009

There's nothing wrong with O's fans booing Teixeira

In an article about the Yankees-Orioles opening day game yesterday, Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated has a message for Orioles fans after their loud booing of Mark Teixeira, and it apparently goes something like this: Stop being mean.

Heyman writes:

Teixeira, the native Marylander, and third member of the Yankees' offseason haul, was dissed and hissed here for no good reason. As he said about his call to go to the rival Yankees for more money ($180 million) and a better October chance, "I think anybody in my position would have done the same thing."

Then later, he confided, "The Orioles weren't really involved."

The Orioles made an early and quick pass in a seeming attempt to show their fans they were involved for the great Severna Park, Md., star. But they really weren't.

Orioles fans don't know that, so they boo him like crazy. And Teixeira pleased them by doing nothing, by going 0-for-4 with a walk, and by grounding out with the tying run at third base in the eighth inning.

"I didn't get it done today," Teixeira said.

That makes two of 'em. Between Sabathia and Teixeira, the Yankees got zero return on their $341 million investment.

First of all, just to bring some logic into this discussion, it's just one game. Sabathia and Teixeira will do just fine. I also seriously doubt that Teixeira went 0-4 just because O's fans were booing him. Though I must say that, while I couldn't watch the game on TV, it was still awesome to hear on the radio.

Anyway, this whole notion that "the Orioles weren't really in the running for Teixeira, so fans shouldn't be mad" is overlooking the point that Teixeira talked about the possibility of coming home to Baltimore for at least two years and led countless O's fans on about his intentions.

Did he really want to play for the Orioles? Probably not. Did he make it seem that way? Yes.

And even though the O's didn't offer him as much as the Yankees did, it's not like they offered him chump change. Teixeira used the Orioles and Nationals to drive up the price. The Yankees probably would have paid the same amount anyway, but the plan still worked.

The whole thing really isn't that big of a deal. Fans have the right to boo -- and they did. So what? Fans can be pretty smart, and they don't have to rely on certain Sports Illustrated writers to fill them in.

Teixeira's goal was to make the most money possible, and he did that. He may have been sad for a few minutes during or after the game (I doubt it), but all he has to do is look at his next paycheck to feel better.

If the goal was to have everyone like him, then Teixeira probably made a poor choice in signing with New York.

So Heyman, calm down. There's definitely a good reason to boo Teixeira besides the fact that he wasn't entirely truthful: He's a Yankee now. If he needs some help dealing with a little hate, all he has to do is walk across the clubhouse to A-Rod's locker.

Orioles fans had no rational reason to boo Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira on Monday, unless you believe that a free agent should give his hometown team a $30 million discount and ignore that team's 11 straight losing seasons.